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Duluthlove

I sort of underestimated how much I would miss Duluth and our home area when we moved here. I’m sure in a few months the pangs of missing good restaurants, movie theaters that get good movies, and other events and happenings will subside. We are anxious for the snow to come for real because I’m pretty confident that we’ll be reveling in our good fortune when we can be out on the trails for hours every day. I think we will adjust to the lack of good restaurants and things to do in town. This in between time, when the property is a muddy mess around the yurt, with muddy dog paws to be wiped off every single time they go out, Klue paws all over my school clothes (you can’t blame her for being excited I’m home…), and the squishy brown stuff oozing onto my pant hems, leaves something to be desired.

So, at this point, I make my I MISS DULUTH list because we are just over a week away from heading back home finally. When we moved here in August, we had anticipated making a late September, early October journey home to retrieve winter clothes, skis, etc. With everything that has happened with renovating, the building inspectors, etc., we never had the time. Money is tight, so we decided to combine our Mankato Thanksgiving trip with a Duluth trip.

I am ridiculously excited to:

See our Duluth region friends and their canine and feline friends. You know who you are.

Drink an Apricot Wheat at The Brewhouse and an IPA at Canal Park Brewery.

Eat good Mexican food at Mexico Lindo and drink margaritas with friends. The only place here is fancy Mexican. Overrated.

Have a fake Thursday night reunion with Kelly and Jason. With only conferences getting in our way, last year we ate dinner with them every Thursday from August to June. We switched off, eating at their place one Thursday and ours the next Thursday. There was no pressure. We just made whatever we were going to make that week. We had something to look forward to and it made Fridays more tolerable. We got to spend time with them every week. So, they don’t know it yet, but we’re going to have a fake Thursday night dinner. Maybe at the Lindo???

Dog walk with Zoe and her human. They’re the best. I’ve already told the pups, so get ready Jess.

Climb with Joel. Hopefully my thumb is back in business because in spite of the fact that I haven’t been a consistent climbing partner since my back got bad, I am anxious to get on the wall again. Bryan is painfully excited for this.

And here is the what-I-am-stoked-about Mankato list;

Seeing the family. It has been since August when they came to help with the platform and I only got to see them for a few hours before I went to Jackson.

We still have not met the latest addition to the family, Molly the yellow lab/golden retriever mix. We’ve missed a lot of her puppyhood, but soon I will finally get to snuggle her and smell her puppy paws. Weird? Yeah. Evidently she is a lot like Nitsa (which Bryan takes to mean perfect), so I expect some epic battles between those two over the b-word. Balls. I hope she annoys Klue a lot because Klue deserves some payback being a little sister and all.

Seeing Allison! We are planning a little trip to meet Allison in the middle of Rochester and Mankato to see each other. It has been too too long. Lunch? Dinner? Drinks? No matter, as long as I get a little Alli time.

I don’t want to admit this, but I’m in the business of the telling the truth. I am way too excited to go to stores I like. I am planning a Target trip. Maybe I’ll just look at things, or maybe I’ll squirrel away a twenty to spend there. Even if I just pick up some necessities like floor cleaner, I’ll be happy to do it there. I’m also hoping to make an Ikea trip. You can groan now, but those people know about tiny living and I need a few organizing items for the kitchen space. We still aren’t able to put everything away and they know that the way to this girl’s heart is through shelves and interesting means of organizing.

The farm. I can’t wait to go a on a three-dog hike at the farm. It sounds like we’ve got some work to do with some wood there, so I know we’ll get to spend some time out there. I think it will consist of me watching a lot because Bryan and his dad are going to pull out some trees they had to cut down (sad story) to turn into boards.

The novelty of not having to put on shoes and jacket to go to the bathroom.

And most obvious of all: Thanksgiving Dinner. It’s the best meal of the year by a long shot.